Federal EPA Regulators Flag Colorado Air Permits For Weak Gas Monitoring

By Michael Booth | The Colorado Sun

The Environmental Protection Agency has slapped back six oil and gas air pollution permits to Colorado regulators, saying the state failed to require adequate monitoring of natural gas venting in the Garfield County systems and risked letting too much dirty air into the atmosphere. 

The environmental watchdogs who objected to two oil and gas companies’ permits called the rare Trump Administration rejection a victory in their ongoing campaign to force Colorado into more monitoring of gas leaks, intentional venting and flaring. Repeated failures in any of those steps of natural gas gathering release harmful volatile organic compounds and methane that exacerbates carbon buildup in the atmosphere. 

“This is a huge issue. If companies aren’t accurately measuring and reporting the amount of gas vented, then permitted venting is basically a free pass to pollute,” said Jeremy Nichols of the Center for Biological Diversity, which brought the objections. “It would be like the IRS letting people say they paid their taxes without requiring them to file a return.”

While the permits in question now are on the Western Slope, Nichols said, “this is a statewide problem that the Division isn’t ensuring companies are, in fact, fully complying with emission limits.”

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